PM jabs at left-wing rivals over Jerusalem unity

Retaining Israeli sovereignty over Jerusalem’s Western Wall is worthless if it’s an isolated enclave surrounded by a Palestinian state, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday.

As far as he is concerned, he said, giving up even a small portion of the capital as part of a possible future peace deal with the Palestinians is strictly out of the question.

Netanyahu’s clear-cut pledge came as a thinly-veiled swipe at the leaders of the center-left political camp, who on Sunday vowed to ensure the Western Wall remained in Israeli hands even if Jerusalem itself were eventually divided in a future deal with the Palestinians.

“I heard there are people who are willing to grant the Palestinians a capital in Jerusalem,” the prime minister said during an opening speech at the Fifth annual Israeli Bible Contest for Adults.

“I heard somebody, and another (female) someone, say that the Western Wall will remain in our hands,” he continued, apparently referencing Labor Party leader Isaac Herzog and Hatnua party chief Tzipi Livni.

“How will the Wall remain in our hands? As an enclave within Palestinian territories? And how exactly do we get there? By convoys? Helicopters? Armored personnel carriers?

“We did not return to the Western Wall after 2,000 years to get there via armored personnel carriers.”

Netanyahu vowed that Israel would preserve its control over Jerusalem and its holy sites in any case and regardless of future negotiations with the Palestinians.

“The Western Wall will remain in our hands, Jerusalem will remain in our hands always — united forever under Israeli sovereignty,” he said.

Herzog and Livni, on their part, were quick to dismiss Netanyahu’s criticism, accusing the prime minister of cynically exploiting a loaded political issue in order to gain votes, the Walla news site reported.

“The public has lost faith in Netanyahu, and we will replace him,” a joint statement later issued by the two read.

On Sunday, Herzog and Livni vowed to keep the Western Wall plaza under Israeli control.

“We are committed, Tzipi Livni and I, to preserve Jerusalem as our capital, and to ensure its future and to preserve this holy place, and to ensure that we maintain Jerusalem,” Herzog declared during a menorah lighting ceremony at the Western Wall. “We will do everything so that it is not torn and divided, we will strive for its social character and for the fact that Jerusalem is not just stones.”

Livni, who was also present at the event, echoed Herzog’s statements. “We commit that — no matter what — it will remain ours, of the Jewish people, that it will remain under the jurisdiction of the state of Israel,” she said.

The fate of the Old City of Jerusalem is one of the issues at the heart of the right-left divide of Israeli politics and peace negotiations with the Palestinians.

Conquered by Israel during the 1967 Six Day War, the 16th-century Old City walls encompass a densely built area that includes the Temple Mount, considered holy by Jews and Muslims, as well as the adjoining Western Wall, a remnant of the Second Jewish Temple that stood at the site.

Palestinians seek to declare East Jerusalem — along with the Old City — as the capital of a future Palestinian state.

Israel annexed the eastern part of the city in 1980, though the move was not recognized by the international community and remains a point of contention. In recent years, Israeli politicians on the left, including former prime minister Ehud Olmert, have broached the subject of dividing Jerusalem, an idea once considered taboo in mainstream discourse.

Netanyahu, whose Likud party sits in the center-right of Israeli politics, has repeatedly vowed that Jerusalem will remain unified under Israeli control — including the Old City with the Western Wall and the Temple Mount.

Earlier this month, Herzog and Livni announced their intention to run on a joint list for the coming elections, scheduled for March 17, the better to challenge Netanyahu’s premiership and his ruling Likud party.

Stuart Winer contributed to this report.